Paintball is a popular sporting game. It is played on a field including obstacles. Generally, teams of players each have a flag located at the team's home base. The object of the game is to “capture” the opposing team's flag before they capture yours. Each player is armed with a paintball marker for firing projectiles. Most paintball markers are compressed gas guns that shoot projectiles, otherwise known as paintballs. Paintballs are generally spherical gelatin capsules filled with paint, normally a non-toxic marking dye. If a player is hit with and marked by a paintball fired by a player on the opposing team that player is eliminated from the game.
All players in the sport of paintball, and other action or recreation combat sports such as airsoft, must wear protective equipment. One piece of protective equipment that must be worn is a face mask, which may incorporate goggles to protect the eyes, or may otherwise have protective lenses.
Known face mask and goggle systems suffer from various inadequacies. When a projectile, such as a paintball, impacts known face masks or goggles near the nose portion of the face mask or goggles, the lens portion of the mask or goggle tends to separate from the body of the mask or goggle creating an opening. Projectile material can pass through the opening, partially or wholly defeating the purpose of the mask or goggle.
In addition, the lens of a face mask or goggle should preferably be easily replaceable. Current face masks and goggles have complicated arrangements for attaching lenses to the body of the face mask or goggle. These known face masks and goggles make it is difficult to easily and efficiently replace and/or clean the lenses when necessary.
Furthermore, current face mask and goggle systems do not have an acceptable arrangement for aligning the lenses on the bodies or frames of the face mask and goggle systems. It would be advantageous to have a simple and effective arrangement for aligning the lenses on the bodies or frames of the face mask and goggle systems, and for keeping the lenses aligned during use.
Accordingly, there is the need for a face mask and/or goggle system that has improved efficacy in keeping projectile materials from passing between the lens or body of the face mask and/or goggle.
There is further the need for a face mask and/or goggle system that includes a means for firmly attaching the lenses to the bodies or frames of the face mask and/or goggle system, while still permitting easy removal and replacement.
There is even further the need for a face mask and/or goggle system that includes a means for aligning the lenses on the body or frame of the face mask and/or goggle system.